ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WNCN) — A driver who was shot in the head accidentally accelerated his car while unconscious and dragged a police officer down a North Carolina road and into a firetruck, police said Sunday.
At about 9:30 a.m. Sunday, the Rocky Mount Police Department responded to a 911 call and found an unconscious man in the driver’s seat of a stopped car suffering from a head injury, a news release said.
An officer trying to help the man, who was identified as 32-year-old Jonathan Nixon, was dragged by the arm down an intersection after the driver “incoherently accelerated.” The vehicle came to a stop after crashing into a firetruck.
“An officer with the Rocky Mount Police Department exited his patrol vehicle to render aid to the
victim,” the news release said. “However, the victim incoherently accelerated, trapping the officer’s arm inside the vehicle, dragging him approximately 15 feet before crashing into a firetruck.”
The officer was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Nixon was transported to a different hospital in critical condition.
A preliminary investigation determined the shooting was a domestic incident and that the suspect fled the area before the officer arrived, Rocky Mount police said.
Minutes after the shooting, a neighbor and Rocky Mount City Councilman Rev. Richard Joyner was on his way to church to preach.
“When I came up, he was sitting in there,” said Joyner, who found Nixon unconscious before police arrived. “Person in it (the car) looked like he was not doing good.”
Joyner noted that the officer who arrived to help was not seriously injured in the incident. “The chief said got some injuries but I think recoverable and looked like he will be well,” Joyner said.
The shooting is under investigation.